The Soccer Blog: Ramsey And Almunia Return for Reserves -- What Now?

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Ramsey And Almunia Return for Reserves -- What Now?

Ramsey And Almunia Return for Reserves — What Now? - - The Offside - Arsenal Football Club Blog

« Braga – Arsenal Preview | Home | Braga – Arsenal Match Thread »Ramsey And Almunia Return for Reserves — What Now?By: Martin | November 23rd, 2010

Rambo’s back.

Aaron Ramsey suited up in Arsenal red for the first time in 9 months today as the reserves squad take on Wolves reserves. His horrific injury at the hands of Ryan Shawcross took place on February 27, and Aaron as been recovering and rehabilitating ever since. But today is a significant step in his recovery as he gets his first competitive match action since being injured. He played 45 minutes (and by all accounts was not injured, 45 minutes was the original plan), and supposedly played well, which is very positive.

There are several concerns. First, I think as we saw when Diaby, Rosicky, and Eduardo returned from long injuries, I have no doubt that he will pick up more than his fair share of knocks for a little while. Professional footballers at this level are like finely-tuned machines, and the adjustment from long injury layoff to playing regularly is tough for the body to adjust to. I just hope it’s not too serious and he gets back to a point where he’s not injury-prone — Diaby, for example, never did. Second, I think it will be interesting to see how this affected his development. I think it’s unrealistic to expect him to pick right back up where he left off in February — in reality, it will likely take him at least several months to get back to that point, and he can hopefully continue his development from there. He is still a month shy of his 20th birthday, so time is one his side.

The third question is where he fits into the first team and the new formation. We are a team flush with midfielders at the moment. Cesc, Song, Nasri, Rosicky, Wilshere, Denilson, and Diaby all also play in the 3 midfield spots, although Nasri and Rosicky seem to primarily be used in one of the wing roles. Where does Ramsey fit into that? I think he’s obviously going to be behind Cesc, Song, and Nasri for a while. Rosicky is probably somewhat out of the equation, since he only seems to come into midfield if there’s no other options in the playmaking role. So I think the guys he’ll be close to on the depth chart are Wilshere, Denilson, and Diaby. And Ramsey seems to be a pretty natural fit in one of the deep-lying roles, because he’s probably the closest thing we have to a box-to-box type guy in midfield. So I expect Wenger will start working him into the mix along with Wilshere and Denilson, starting either at the end of December or early to mid January. And how much he plays over the other guys will just depend on how he plays and develops from there.

I do think it looks like someone won’t stay around next season, though. That’s 7 midfielders. And with the emergence of Henri Lansbury, and Chuks Aneke’s brilliant play for the Reserves, we have several guys bubbling up through the ranks. Lansbury has earned a first-team spot next season, and I just don’t see Wenger going into a season with 8 midfielders in this formation. And even if he did, I can’t imagine the players would be happy with it. So I’m guessing Diaby’s time with the club may be limited, and he may move on in the summer. He won’t displace Song, he can’t really play in the advanced role, which means he’s in competition with Denilson, Wilshere, and Ramsey long-term for a spot. All of those players are younger than him, more consistent than him, and while Diaby on his day is a very dangerous player that offers Arsenal a good change of pace, I think those players are more well-rounded, more promising players (particularly Wilshere & Ramsey), and Diaby is nearing his mid-20s and has still yet to string a consistent run of form and health together. I could see him getting pushed out a bit and moving on, particularly if his ankle issues continue. And it would be somewhat ironic, since Diaby and Ramsey are parallel in some ways because they both suffered broken legs from horrific tackles when they were 19, and I think Diaby in many ways represents the worst-case scenario for Ramsey (in terms of never being able to stay healthy).

And while it is being overshadowed by Ramsey’s return, Almunia played 45 minutes in goal for the Reserves today. It’s his first appearance in nearly two months since his (ahem) arm injury. I think this raises questions about how he fits into the squad. Honestly, I get the sense that Wenger has been trying to elevate Flaps to the # 1 shirt for over a season now, and persisted even when Flaps was killing the team with mistakes. I can’t see Flaps getting demoted at this point, when he’s having the best run of matches he’s ever had for the club. But is Almunia even the #2? Wojo just signed a new first-team contract, and I’m sure that there were assurances made about his place in the club. I guess at the very least I think Wojo will continue to play in the domestic cup matches. Which leaves Almunia pretty much without a role with the team, potentially getting a seat on the bench for most first-team matches.

But at the moment, he looks to be a man without much of a future at Arsenal, and at this stage of his career, I can’t imagine he’ll be happy with being a career back-up. So I expect he’ll be looking to move on in the summer, if not before. And it would be a bit of a sad way to end his Arsenal career. He’s played in some big games for Arsenal — he played keeper for most of the Champions League final after Jens got sent off; he played in the 2007 League Cup final. He won that penalty shootout in Rome in the Champions League (photo below). He came up huge in Champions League matches against Manchester United and Barcelona, and his penalty kick record is pretty fantastic, so he never had a problem dealing with pressure. But most of all, he’s been a real organizational soldier — always working hard, always being a professional, always being a good teammate, wearing the armband on more than a few occasions. I’m not saying he should be our starting keeper again (at least not right away), and I’m not saying I wouldn’t understand if he wanted to leave. It would just be a bit of a sad way to end his career with the club.

But a lot can change in a week, let alone a season, so we’ll see. For the time being, the important thing is we just got 2 first-team players back, which can only be a good thing. Welcome back to both of them.

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No Kanye West tweet today because he hasn’t updated his twitter page in over a week, which is a bit worrying. But his new album (which is pretty awesome, btw) just came out yesterday, so maybe he’s just busy. Rest assured that we will keep you updated on this important situation.

Some Related Stories:RvP Out until mid-October; Theo Stretchered Off for England; Squillaci Plays for ReservesRamsey Running Again; + World Cup RoundupJack Picks the Right Role Models; van Persie Tug of War Continues; Players Return from InjuryEleven Gunners Headed to World Cup; Ramsey Signs Long-Term Deal; Thoughts on “Transfer Linked” Feature on Club’s Official SiteVela in Agua Caliente over Party; Cesc Eyes Chelsea Return; Wenger Conciliatory Towards Wojo

Category: Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal News, Injury Report, Manuel Almunia

Tags: Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal News, Injury Report, Manuel Almunia
« Braga – Arsenal Preview | Home | Braga – Arsenal Match Thread »vHFYou guys don't think Denilson's position at the club is under threat with Ramsay's return?
He seems to have stalled in his development and Wenger's not playing him often anymore.Darren_VLansbury tends to play on the flank as well as a central midfielder, kinda like Nasri and Rosicky do. So that relieves some of the congestion on the middle of the park.

On a completely unrelated note, it was -41C with wind chill here last night, and is currently -27C. My car barely started this morning WHILE being plugged in, and I just found out the plugins here at work are not working so I will have to intermittently start my car throughout the day to ensure my ability to actually drive home at the end of the day.

Moral of the story? Don't live in the North American Siberia. It freaking sucks.SairaxOf course we must be patient with Ramsey and his recovery. Still, how great is it to see him back? :D

Isn't Diaby a favourite of Wenger's? I have a hard time seeing Wenger leave him out unless his injuries really keep him back. Then again we kept RvP so I have no idea.MartinReally great to see him back. I think he probably won't get a first-team match until at least late December or early January, and won't really round into good form until a few months after that. So yeah, patience is called for, and realistically, we probably shouldn't expect too much from him this season at all.

Wenger does love Diaby, so I could be wrong (I frequently am). But it's just hard for me to see Diaby blocking Ramsey or Wilshere going forward into next season.SairaxMaybe we'll see Rambo in the FA Cup? I'm glad he's young and has time but of course I worry too. At least there wasn't ligament damage like EduardoDarren_VThere you go, hating on the French players again. For shame.SairaxBet you hope not to see Vela tonight you Mexican haterDarren_VWhat if I want to see him so I can point and laugh?SairaxOh that's fine.....if you're a racist.....which you clearly are.....Darren_VNot my fault he doesn't like to score unless Arsenal are up by 2 goals, and if not, just stroll about the pitch being lazy like Arshavin, without the quality to actually score or create a goal by doing nothing.SairaxI hope one day you can look inside yourself and get rid of all that hate, you poor manHomey_MillsAh yes, I love the banter between fellow Canadians. I guess you get angry when it's a zillion below zero, and you realize that winter is just starting. Meanwhile, I can wear shorts and a t-shirt today. Although it's supposed to get down near freezing on Thursday, which will upset all the natives greatly.
Anyway, back to Arsenal stuff... Martin didn't mention Frimpong in his list of midfielders, but my memory was that he was supposed to be pretty gangsta before getting hurt. So that could add another number to the list. And to be honest, I wouldn't mind if we sold Diaby this summer, or even in January.SairaxMartin, video of Ramsey is up, I think you can embed it from the official site :)blog comments powered by Disqus